Cleveland High School Presentation

WE had a fabulous event yesterday at Cleveland HS. All the girls were from the Engineering class and just starting out in the STEM program at Cleveland. Cleveland HS in the new STEM school in the Seattle School District. The girls are all studying Engineering with Kelly Clark, a recent engineering graduate from the UW. She is an amazing role model and inspiration to the girls. Kelly is going to have an IGNITE club at Cleveland this year. The girls loved the event and are really looking forward to doing more IGNITE activities. All of them signed up for the Microsoft field trip coming up next month.

Thank you to all the staff that supports IGNITE at Cleveland, Melissa Kagele, Math teacher, David Friedle, Technology teacher, Marjorie Miilligan, Assistant Principal, Principal Shariff, and Lois Brewer. And thank you to the amazing support staff who always welcomes me and IGNITE, and makes us feel so welcome.
Thank you to Beth Domondon, and Feli Regan.

We had such a great panel. Everyone was fantastic and special. All of the speakers were inspiring to the girls.
I want to thank all of the speakers who came to the event and really showed the girls their passion and commitment to mentoring them.

Thank you to Norresa Calos, Program Manager, Information Security, Microsoft and alumni of Cleveland HS, Corey Weathers, Test Engineer, Microsoft, and a recent graduate of the APEX Microsoft program that mentors young people out of college for 2 years at MIcrosoft helping them to pick a career field, Kendra Powers, Systems Security Engineer, Boeing, Renee Bergeson, IT Manager, Microsoft, Noel Okamoto, Asst Outreach Coordinator, Seattle Central CC, and welcome to a new volunteer, Frenchie Green, Sr, Procurement Manager, Microsoft and what an inspirational story!!
Thank you to Christie Ong, my assistant and an IGNITE alumni. I could not do this without her!
You are all amazing mentors for the girls and did such a great job telling your story and answering all of the girls great questions. The girls did ask such great questions which creates a thought provoking discussion, and such an important part of the session.
Thank you all!

Comments from the students:

I liked how the speakers spoke about their struggles growing up and how they got to where they are now.
There were a lot of interesting things and I am not sure what it is the most interesting.

You encourage me to become an engineer.
You’re giving scholarship for us to go to college.
I would like IGNITE to let us actually get hands on technology even though we aren’t experienced.

I liked how they explained to us about what the future is like. Pretty much their careers.
I think the most interesting thing I’ve heard was all about the colleges here in Washington.

When they were telling their stories.

I like the fact that they all succeeded to get their job.
Everyone’s struggles.

The guest speaker helped guide me toward what I want to do.
The most interesting thing that I heard today was about how much these engineers get an opportunity to travel.

What I liked best about this event was that all the speakers told and explained how they started to get interested in engineering. The speakers also made sure we understand what they are saying.
Their backgrounds

Learning about technology and meeting people.
Program and activities, also scholarship

They gave us a lot of information about their jobs and technical careers.
The most interesting thing I’ve heard today is that most of these speakers started with hard childhoods.

That there are women that do technical and engineering and one of them works at Microsoft and another one works at Boeing.
That only 10% are in engineering and 15% are in technical.
It was good just to let the people talk, give them time, and no interruptions.

I like how the presenter presented. They were loud, clear, and descriptive. They were easy to understand and provided us with a lot of information.
The most interesting thing I heard today were the personal stories.
Field trips out of state to meet other IGNITE events

I liked that none of the speakers had background where they were set up to be what they are and what they do. I thought it was cool that they all just saw the opportunity and took it.

How you start small and get big. That they learned a lot.
That IGNITE is in Africa.
Nothing it was great.
Microsoft Field Trip

I liked how the speakers were so involved with the kids and made their discussion more likeable to everyone.
The most interesting thing was listening to how the speakers come from such a hard life, to an engineer.

Well I liked story time when people were talking about their lives.

They told us more about the careers and I have met a couple of people that do different things.
What the other people do around and how many different things there are. And how not much African American females really don’t do much or engineers.

I like the experiences and how they told us more about technical career and women in that field.

View the Cleveland High School Chapter Page